Kenny Paterson

Edinburgh City manager Gary Jardine believes striker Ousy See could be a key player, should he sign from Selkirk this week.

See has fallen out of favour at Yarrow Park but with City’s main forward Ross Allum recovering from injury, Jardine recruited him as a trialist for the last month.

And the former Tynecastle man rewarded Lowland League leaders City with a double against a valiant Vale of Leithen, who Jardine also paid tribute to at full time.

He said: “Ousy gives us something different and I think he will form a great partnership with Ross Allum.

“I think Vale will cause problems to a lot teams both at home and away.

“They have the most experience manager at this level in Mickey Lawson. We knew they would sit in against us and make it difficult and it wasn’t until the second half when we pulled away and won.”

Lawson rued a first half penalty miss by Robbie Ross when the score was 0-0, as well as poor defending for City’s goals.

He bemoaned: “While I don’t know if the penalty miss was a pivotal moment, we were poor for all three of City’s goals.

“However, there were plenty of positives as well. We are not trying to measure ourselves against the likes of City or Spartans or Whitehill but the rest of the league and our form in recent weeks has got us back into the pack.”

See looked a threat throughout this game, even during a turgid first half.

He struck the post early on after hesitation between Andy McQueen in the Vale goal and left back Ross Brady.

But it was Ross’ missed spot kick, hit straight at Edinburgh goalkeeper Andrew Stobie on 37 minutes after Joe Mbu had fouled Bradley Rixon, which provided City with the lift they need going into the second half.

City went in front as Dougie Gair’s cross was tapped in by See on 47 minutes and three minutes later, McConnell’s 30 yard rocket smashed off the bar and into the net off the back of McQueen.

The goalkeeper was at fault for the third just after the hour when he could only palm a McConnell shot into the path of Gair to cross for See to score his second, and third goal in four games for the Meadowbank club.

Vale’s Keith McLeod responded with 14 minutes to go with a superb turn and finish to make it two goals in as many games for the 37-year-old striker, but the Innerleithen side never threatened a dramatic comeback.